


Countdown to Zero

by BestfCarat



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Character Death, Fluff and Angst, I can write this nonstop somebody please stop meeeee, Ioriku just can't stop bantering, Koku Haku Disease, M/M, Romantic Comedy, Toki Doki AU, Was supposed to be one shot, Will add more in the future - Freeform, but blame Ioriku, they can't stop the bokke tsukkomi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 02:56:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19821112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BestfCarat/pseuds/BestfCarat
Summary: Iori was born with a rare disease. His heartbeat had a countdown. This disease was called as Koku Haku disease. There was no pain and no complexion, his heart would just stop beating one day. By the countdown left, he had 9 years left to live if he went on his original pace set by his parents.But fate decided something different for him.





	Countdown to Zero

**Author's Note:**

> Greeting. This is my first attempt writing about Idolish7. I hope they will not be too OOC because God forbid, I hate when I went out of the line. And also! Because English is not my first language, I had to use grammarly.com as my beta LMAO I hope it's working because I'm still a confused being. WELLLLLL enough chit chat, please enjoy!!! \O/

  


A lot of people gathered today at Izumi’s household, wearing all black because they just suffered from losing their youngest son at the hand of God of Death. Sobbing and wailing could be heard in the room but a certain orange hair young man only smiled in remorse sitting in front of the coffin, receiving his younger brother’s unavoidable fate a long time ago.

  


“It will be sad and lonely without you but I'm glad you can finally reunite with him, Iori. It was hard for you this past seven years but you did your best till the end to fulfill his last wish for you. I’m going to miss you, my dear brother.” A single tear dropped as he smiled genuinely looking at Iori’s smiling portrait.

  


"Mitsuki." The blonde foreigner, also Izumi's brothers' close friend, Rokuya Nagi looked at the former in sadness, sighing before looking back at the cause of everyone's grief today. He remembered very well the event that happened seven years ago, the one Mitsuki just spoke of. Till now it still fresh and vivid in his mind. No, in everyone's mind.

  


  


  


  


\---------------------------------------xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo--------------------------------------

  


  


  


  


**_Seven years ago…._ **

  


Izumi Iori was born under an unlucky star. He was refrained from moving a lot, to feel any emotion, or to do anything at all by his parents' strict but controlling advice. In return, he had lived like a lifeless doll without any emotion and entertainment for his whole sixteen years old life.

  


Of course, this was done with a reason.

  


Iori was born with a rare disease. His heartbeat had a countdown. This disease was called as Koku Haku disease. There was no pain and no complexion, his heart would just stop beating one day. By the countdown left, he had 9 years left to live if he went on his original pace set by his parents.

  


But fate decided something different for him.

  


In his class, there was a loud and obnoxious red hair guy -Iori thought so- always surrounded by a lot of people, thanks to his appeal. He never gave up trying to speak with Iori though the latter would always be ignoring him or in some rare cases where Iori was on a bad day -the main cause was the guy himself definitely-, would sting the poor guy with his poisonous tongue.

  


His name was Nanase Riku.

  


He was a nice guy to a fault and could not stand seeing Iori being alone all the time. So even if the man ignored him, he would not be giving up. There was no ‘give up' words in his dictionary. Annoying he might be, but he would not stop halfway. His feeling was not half-baked for Iori. Or for anyone in the same situation.

  


He even got the rude and childish Yotsuba Tamaki wrapped under his thumb that even the teachers had no idea how to deal with. The guy was isolated because he was being rudely honest and could be a little bit of violence when someone pissed him off.

  


Nanase Riku caused a lot of changes in Iori’s life. Any of his feelings that his parents worked hard to seal within him was already being broken by the former.

  


Mainly, pissed off and irritated -according to Iori himself-.

  


On one fateful day after the recess, Riku carelessly dropped his drink on Iori’s shirt. He was chasing after the latter with a drink in his hand when Iori kept on ignoring him.

  


Imagined the fume Iori thought at that time.

  


With a single murderous glare that made Riku gulped instinctively, Iori stomped away from the scene to the nurse's office.

  


He needed to calm his heartbeat down if he didn’t want to fast forward his demise.

  


There was no one in there, including the nurse himself. So, he stripped his upper clothes off. The liquid soaked till his inner shirt and he felt sticky on his chest. Luckily, his medical device was saved from getting soaked too. If not, he was going to chew Riku off of this planet. The device connected to his heart, after all.

  


Too focused on washing his shirt cleaned on the sink, he failed to notice a pair of footsteps behind him.

  


"Iori! Why are you in the nurse's office? Did you get hurt somewhere? Or was my drink-" Startled by the voice, Iori almost gave himself whiplash. Riku stopped talking halfway after noticing the device on Iori's bare porcelain chest and his eyes clouded in understanding. There was a mute silence for a few seconds before Riku spoke again.

  


“Are you okay?” Riku asked while smiling.

  


“…….Huh?” Still recovering from his shock, Iori stared at the man in front of him while processing on his thought. Then he looked down on his chest before went pale and panicked. “Wh-wh-wh-what are you doing here?! Why did you come?!”

  


"C-calm down, okay? I'm just worried." Riku wanted to step forward and held the guy close to him but decided against it as to not freak him out any further while the latter desperately attempted to cover his chest, his medical device to be exact.

  


He didn't want anyone to find out about his condition but it was too late, one person already noticed that and news would spread faster than Sonic's speed. -That was all in Iori's mind.-

  


But surprisingly when Riku spoke the next words, he was left stunned and baffled.

  


“Did you bring your spare clothes?”

  


“……..Eh?”

  


"Or gym clothes perhaps? You do realize you can't go back to the class half-naked, do you? People are going to call you a _pervert_." Riku crossed his arms while looking at Iori, raising one of his eyebrows.

  


There was a long silence before something snapped in Iori. Oh, that was the sound of his veins.

  


"Who are you calling a _pervert_?! You're not the one to talk when you are the center of reverse harems! That was impossible, normally!" Iori barked for the first time in his life. His fear earlier had been left forgotten in the dump.

  


"Huh?! What do you mean reverse harems?! They're my friends! Don't make me sounds like a femme fatale! I'm not a woman!" That was the first time someone ever told Riku something like that.

  


"Friends wouldn't make sparkly eyes when they look at someone of the same gender, won't act like a slave, and won't bow before you," Iori said with a smug face. "Plus, isn't it true that you were surrounded by mostly men every day?"

  


"Spark—" The red-hair almost choked on his breath. "Well, while it's _so_ true that I can't even deny that to save my face but just so you know, no matter how many times I warned them, they wouldn't and will never listen to me but why did you sound like someone jealous?" Riku deadpanned, stressing on the first 'so' word.

  


“Wha-?! Who is jealous?!” Though he was flustered, Iori still glared at Riku.

  


_'Wait, is he jealous of me or my friends?'_ Please listen to Riku's sudden monologue, everyone~ _'I don't care which one. That just means he actually wants to befriend someone. That's cute.............’_ Riku thought so.

  


It was the first for Riku to think about another guy as cute.

  


The world was doomed.

  


The sudden lighthearted laughter coming from the red hair gave Iori a shock.

  


"Why did you laugh?" He gasped in disbelief.

  


"No, no, it's nothing." Riku still giggled though after his sudden outburst. He couldn't say that he thought the guy in front of him was cute right on his face now, wasn't he? "You better look for something to wear if you don't want to catch a cold." Changing the topic, Riku pointed out at Iori's bare skin. 

  


“Ah.” Iori just realized he was still shirtless. And to his surprise, his anxiousness flew out of the window without him even realizing when.

  


“I’ll see you later.” Riku gave him a single wave before turning his back on Iori to go back to their classroom.

  


“W-wait. Uh…” Iori looked so complicated and was hard to speak. So different from their bantering just now but Riku understood him clearly.

  


"Don't worry, I won't say anything." He just turned his head back a little to give Iori an assuring smile. "I didn't see anything…………………except for your naked torso and pink nipples." With another laugh, Riku hurried to escape before Iori could retort back at him.

  


"………………!! Huniijmkjsdsd!!!" Iori started to scream in a rubbish language because of how flustered he became.

  


If before, his heart was bad because of anger and fear but now it was bad because of something else entirely. Iori only knew one thing.

  


Nanase Riku was bad for his heart.

  


But instead of being concerned about his health, he found himself smiling.

  


  


  


  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~hi I’m line~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  


  


  


  


The next day, Iori approached the red hair. In secret. Riku almost fainted in shock when the pale feature of the dark blue hair guy, so contrast with his tanned skin, suddenly popped his head from behind the wall looking like Jack-in-the-box right in front of him before he could even turn to the left to go to his club room of which was just four doors away from their current location. Iori asked him to meet on the rooftop.

  


Of course, he gladly followed Iori. Though still in shock, Riku was glad Iori approached him on his own. -The latter almost swear he saw a tail wagging behind Riku's back excitedly-

  


"So, what's up? Is it a love confession (Ai no Kokuhaku)?" Riku teased him once they settled down comfortably under the shadow.

  


"Mhm, you could say that." Iori shot back flippantly, making the red hair shocked and flustered a bit before adding, "Except for the love part." Much to Riku's -to his horror, or not- disappointment.

  


"What's up with that? Trying to make my hope go high?" Riku booed Iori, literally with his pouty lips.

  


"You got your hope high on your own. Please don't shift the blame on me." Iori couldn't help but sigh. "Anyway, back to the original subject, do you know about Koku Haku (confession) disease?"

  


"Confession disease?! As I thought, you're going to confess your love for me?! Did you have to confess to someone or someones who talked to you? If you're not, then your life will be in danger. Is it that bad kind of disease?! I see now! You ended up being alone because of the trauma of their rejections and-" 

  


"As if that kind of disease exists!" Riku's excited rambling was stopped by Iori's loud voice. "Are you an idiot?!" Looking at the dumb look Riku was making, Iori almost banged his head to the wall right behind him before saying, "Forgive me, I forgot you are an idiot. It's a shame that idiot is an incurable disease." Iori put his hands together and prayed at Riku in pretentious, -noted, Iori was being sarcastic. I'm sure you guys know that already. Fufufu~-

  


"Eh? Is it wrong?" Riku blinked while smiling stupidly for 7 seconds -Iori counted- before roaring, "Whose you're calling idiot?!" He flailed his arms furiously like a 5 years old kid.

  


"Idiot plus slow. I honestly worried about your future, Nanase-san." Iori patted his shoulder in pity.

  


"Stop saying idiot, Iori~! Didn't you know that idiot is an infection? Don't blame me in you're infected too." Riku whined in a flooded tear hilariously.

  


"Too?"

  


"Too."

  


"...."

  


"........"

  


"Pfft-" They both couldn't help but laugh after that. It took a while for them to calm down. Riku was in awe as this was the first time he ever witnessed Iori's laughter, albeit a lot softer and more polite than his.

  


"Oh hey Iori, I just noticed you called my name for the first time. I'm moved to tears!" There were fake tears again on Riku's cheeks.

  


"And you're also dramatic. Mou~" Iori pouted without him realizing it. "You also called me by my name. You did as you like though. I never said you could call me by my first name." Still pouting slightly, he crossed his arms with 'hmph ed attitude. 

  


"That's because you never responded to me! And besides, it's too late for me to call you Izumi now." Riku ignored the _'SO CUTE! WARNING! SO CUTE!'_ alert in his mind.

  


"And why is that?" Iori didn't mind Riku called him by his name, much to his surprise. He was just curious. But you know there was a saying, 'curiosity kills a cat.'

  


"Because I love how your name rolled on my tongue." That statement startled Iori, and Riku could see the former's cheeks were getting red like his hair's color. "Also, you can call me Riku too. Nanase-san is too formal coming from you. Usually, only _kohai_ s called me that but we're classmates. That's why, call me Riku, Iori." Tilting his head, Riku gave Iori his heart-throbbing smile.

  


Iori knew he would die sooner than expected but jokes on you, he had no regret if that was the last expression he would see before he went to greet the Creator of all beings.

  


Coughing a little into his knuckles to fix his almost stuttering voice, Iori puffed his left cheek saying, "Then, Nana-"

  


"Not Nanase-kun either or I'll sit on your desk every day."

  


"But-"

  


"Even when the teacher is around."

  


"Kuh." Oh, that was the sound Iori would make when he was left with no choice. Or when he spotted some cute plushie characters but couldn't buy them because they would make Iori's heart beating faster than normal. ".............. _Nana-chan_." Iori tested the water.

  


Riku's smile was frozen for 3 seconds, maybe. "Are you looking for a fight, Iori?!"

  


That reaction made Iori smirked and he almost laughed. "Why? It's informal and befitting for your cute look, _Nana-chan_."

  


"Iori!!!!" Riku screamed in frustration while ruffling his hair aggressively. Iori couldn't contain his laughter any longer.

  


"I was joking~" Still in his laughter though.

  


"You better be! Mou!" Now it was Riku's turn to pout and holy Mother of Heavens, that was so cute. -Iori thought so-. It was funny how someone he thought was annoying yesterday became someone cute in his mind today.

  


"Alright then." Iori sighed and gave up on his stubbornness. "Riku." That came out as a whisper.

  


Riku heard him if that big ass smile of his said anything. "Eh, what? Once more. I can't hear you~" ~" He was enjoying himself by teasing the poor rabbit- I mean Iori.

  


"Riku!" Because Iori was too flustered, he lost control of his voice and ended up shouting but Riku didn't mind it. Instead, he was laughing in happiness. The jerk. -Iori thought so-.

  


"See, that was easy~" Riku threw himself on Iori, hugging the latter much to his embarrassment but then, Riku's hand accidentally brushed on the pacemaker on Iori's chest making the dark hair gasped in shock before shoving the former's hand away from him.

  


"Ack, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Riku jumped back and raised his hands in a surrender gesture.

  


"Oh no, it's fine." Iori sighed in relief when he confirmed nothing happened to his medical device. "Nanase-san, please don't get too excited." The guy still found himself to reprimand the guilty lamb. After receiving vigorous nods from the said lamb, he smiled softly before sighing. "Which reminds me, we had gone too far straying from our original talk."

  


Riku blinked. "About the confession disease?"

  


"Hmm." Iori only nodded while humming in tiredness. Riku's off the wall comments really tired his out but he only had himself to be blamed for. He couldn't resist his retorts against Riku.

  


"Also, you called me Nanase-san again." That cute pout returned on Riku's face.

  


"Please forget about that for now. We still have an important thing to talk about."

  


"This is important too!"

  


"Okaaay~! Then Riku," Iori waited for Riku to smile before proceeding. Once he got what he was waiting for -it was an instant effect, Iori sighed again internally-, he explained. 

  


"Koku Haku disease is a type of heart disease. To be more specific, a weak heart muscle makes the heartbeat irregular. It's in the same category as cardiomyopathy. It's a strange disease that only happens to one in a million people." Iori paused for a while to gawk at Riku's expression, which for once, screamed 'focus'.

  


"Have you heard of this? The amount of times a person's heartbeats in their lifetime is decided when they were born. But a person who has this illness has fewer heartbeats than everyone else." He continued to explain while fiddling with his smartphone for the app that he just took out from his school backpack.

  


Iori then gave the phone to Riku. "Point this at my chest." Riku wordlessly took the device and pointed it at Iori's chest.

  


"Do you see the numbers underneath? That is the number of heartbeats that I have left. If you have the personal app and your ID, you can check your own heart." Iori, who was tired from his long explanation, waited for Riku to respond.

  


There was a long pause as Riku couldn't keep his eyes off of Iori's phone. Iori rested his back against the wall because he was too tired sitting in _seiza_ pose for a long time meanwhile Riku...Well, Riku was Riku. Riku wasn't Iori. "There are about 280 million beats left." Iori finally heard the silence lad spoke again but far too low for his liking.

  


"You might think there's a lot left but in 8 or 9 years, my heart will stop beating." Iori couldn't stop himself from chipping the last but the most dreadful information.

  


"..." Riku was getting back in his silences.

  


"Do you pity me now?" Iori couldn't help but think if it was a mistake to tell Riku about this.

  


"Iori, why did you tell me about this?" Riku's question only gave Iori more questions to himself.

  


Iori shrugged, trying to act nonchalantly but one could tell he was getting anxious. "I just thought that I did owe you favor from yesterday."

  


Riku chuckled. "As far as I remember, I dumped a cup of coffee on your shirt yesterday."

  


"That's not what I mean. Well, there was that but-" Iori glanced at Riku to find any expressions that he disliked, he found _none_. Riku just smiled at him, albeit softer and gentler than before. "...Thank you for didn't question me before and, I trust that you won't tell anyone about this."

  


"Iori." Riku wanted to cry for his new... friend in all seriousness. But he could tell, a drop of his tears would break Iori down. The latter was already looked like a porcelain doll made of glass and the expression that he was making, it was too fragile for Riku to poke. “Was that the reason you isolated yourself from others?” He carefully asked.

  


Iori shook his head. “I didn’t want to, but I had to.”

  


“Eh? What do you mean?” Riku blinked.

  


Taking another long sigh, he started to explain, “Because of my disease, I was refrained from doing any activities. And by any, I mean everything. From watching television to watch other kids playing, from the little sparkles to the loud and big fireworks. I was being confined since I was born until my elementary school started. Like it or not, my parents had to allow me to go to school because if I didn’t start going to, it would cause a lot of questions. I wasn’t allowed to feel any emotions either. They kept on repeating every single day to me that emotions are dangerous for me and desperately attempted to seal them all for good.”

  


Riku gaped at Iori in utter horror and disbelief. “But that was ridiculous! What were they doing to their own son?! Iori is not a lifeless doll! Or android even!” He was getting pissed by each second.

  


Riku’s reaction elicited a soft smile from Iori. “Thank you.”

  


“Huh?! Why are you thanking me?” That smile sure put the flame in Riku’s heart in check.

  


“The emotions’ seal is broken when you appeared in front of me.”

  


Riku blinked once, and then twice. “Eh?”

  


“I started to feel something when you first spoke to me. The longer I know you, the more emotions started to show. Your existence is a light in my life.” Iori’s voice was getting slower and slower. “It feels like I owe you another debt……” There was a silence after that.

  


“I-Iori?” Riku tried to peek at his face but was startled when Iori’s head lolled and fell on his shoulder. The latter had fallen asleep, apparently. “Eh? Iori?” Only the brunette’s soft snore answered him. Riku sighed in defeat before leaning his cheek on Iori’s soft hair. “When you wake up, tell me more about it, okay?” Riku too, closed his eyes, hoping to get a little rest as well.

  


  


  


  


**Author's Note:**

> Hmm, Iori became super honest when he's tired -in my fic, mind you- I wonder what will be his reaction when the sober him finds out?  
> Also, do I need to explain the words "kohai" and "seiza"? I don't, right? >.> The words "kohai" but I used "kohais" <\-- It was supposed to be kohaitachi means underclassmen/juniors (plural) but it's too long and a little bit of confusion for confused beings like me. Hi, you guys there? LOL
> 
> Well, thanks for reading. Comments and kudos are much appreciated. Any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. See you guys in the next chapter! Ppyong~ O/////


End file.
